We often here the term “thinking outside the box.”  Your boss wants that unique idea, he wants to do something nobody else is doing, so bring him fresh ideas.  Or you may want new ideas for your business or career.  Sure, we all want that, but it isn’t always easy to turn on the brain faucet and have genius spill out.  I have an idea that may help you succeed at that, and help you be even more successful in your career.  This is one of the best things I do.  I have no doubt it will work for you.

Every year, pick four things you really want to learn, or get to know much more about.  Then immerse yourself for the next three months of learning that skill. Then move on to the next, while continuing to improve on the skill you just learned.  In one year, you will be at least proficient in four new skills, in two years eight, you get the math. Look back over the last several years of your life. Time is moving regardless of what we do.  Five years ago was not that long ago for most of us.  Twenty additional skills could have had major influence on your life.  I can give a vague example now.  I am in talks about doing a project that may happen down the road, maybe not.  However, in the course of the conversation, a skillset of which I am knowledgeable came up in the conversation.  The people I was speaking with had a different, more promising project that involved someone that knew and could explain this particular skill.  They had no idea I knew anything about this subject matter, and quickly began to express interest in moving the project to the front burner with my involvement. I would have had no shot at being involved if it was not for me spending months learning about this. This skill has nothing to do with how I have made my living, but it could very well in the future.

I have learned about many things over the years, internet marketing, how to build multiple sources of income, speed reading, trading futures, options, and stocks, and others.  Personally, I like to learn from people who have done what I want to do, and do it successfully.  So I have sought out successful people in the fields I want to learn, and learn from them.  You may want to learn how to build a website, become a gourmet chef,  or speak a foreign language. The knowledge is out there.  You just have to go get it.  Not only will learning new things keep you young and curious, you never know how it will change your life.

I was already planning to blog about this. It seems even more poignant now with the possible heath issues of Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple.  He gave an amazing speech to the 2005 Stanford University graduates. It has been re-published many times. You can find it on my website at this link http://www.rockyallen.com/rockys-favorites/ Take a few minutes and read it, it is well worth it.

I urge you to implement this plan in your life.  Take a pottery class, learn how to cook gourmet food, learn how to re-finish old furniture, write software, or write poetry.  There are hundreds of adult education classes. I beg you to never give up the quest for knowledge.  The worst thing that can happen to you is….you get smarter.

Google came out with a service not long ago called Google Voice. It is a great time management tool if used for that. There are a number of reasons people use Google voice, here is mine. It is a free sign up. You can possibly get a number that has your name in it, like xxx-xxx-JACK, or whatever. You can use that number to have all of your numbers forwarded to you so you will never miss a call. There are many uses for it. Feel free to read up on it on at www.google.com/voice . I am going to tell you how I use it as a time management tool. If you hate typing, this is a great service for you. If you have to send out a number of memos, this is for you. If you need to dictate things, and don’t like to waste time, this is for you. Here is the beauty of Google Voice. Call your number, and wait for the voice mail to pick up. Then simply speak what is is you need typed out. In fact, part of this newsletter was put together using Google Voice. After you speak to your voice mail, wait a minute, and you will have everything you said sent in an email to you. All you do is cut and paste, put the text in your document, email it or print it, and you are done. If you have a to-do list that you keep written, this is a great service. Just call your Google Voice number and say everything you need to add to your list and in minutes it will be typed for you and waiting in your inbox. And it is FREE. I will admit, if you do not speak clearly, or there is a lot of background noise when you are calling, a word or two may be mistaken and replaced with another one. For example, one time I said Google, and it typed Drupal, which if you don’t know what Drupal is, it is a type of format a website can be in, like Wordpress. But let me ask you, is it easier to go and correct a couple of words, or type an entire document? Just think, if you have a blog, and you are trying to keep fresh content on it, how much easier and faster it is to call your number and just say what you want to be your next post.   I think you have about three minutes before you time out, but hit redial and keep going if you need more time. If you think about it for a few minutes, this could be a great time management tool to put in your “toolkit”.